Play Your Way into My Heart
by landoflala
Summary: Ruka and Hotaru team up in the interest of a mission. Operation: Get Mikan & Natsume together. A game show is established,a part of Hotaru's evil scheme; but will it be enough to get them to finally come together, and will it tear them even farther? NxM
1. The Discussion

A/N ; I was on such a long hiatus, without warning, I'm sorry but I wont be continuing my previous stories, due to writer's block. I decided to try my hand at a story that has more meaning and more meat to it. O.O let's hope I got better in writing instead of worse, shall we?

Title; Play Your Way into My Heart.

Pair(s): Natsume/Mikan, Ruka/Hotaru & whatever else I throw in here

Summary: Leaving Gakuen Alice and fast forwarding to the age of 20, Natsume still hasn't confessed to Mikan his love that has formed since the 6th grade. Mikan being as dense as she is hasn't decided if what she felt towards Natsume is anything more than friendship. Ruka having moved on decides to help Natsume and Mikan. Hotaru had more than one intention, to make money off broadcasting a game show with none other than Natsume, and getting closer to Ruka?

A/N; This story was developed due to the lack of good stories I find on Natsume/Mikan COMPLETE. They were all one-shots; and most of us clearly love Natsume & Mikan much more than this. So I decided to put this idea on paper that has been haunting me for a while now; this will be a story about a dating game show; inspired by my moms addiction to watching Asian dating game shows on TV. Yes, weird I know.** Here goes nothing? ;O !**

Disclaimer; Gakuen Alice – the best manga alive; but so freaking long; is SADLY not mine. T.T Stop mocking me and go away! –Just kidding don't leave me readers T.T-

_The day of graduation had arrived, and everyone had their future brimming ahead of them, their careers all chosen. Even the slower witted Mikan had changed and grew into an intelligent and rather attractive young lady of 17, completely controlling her two rare and powerful alices, yet amazingly remained just as dense and naïve in the topic of love as when she just entered Gakuen Alice. With the final blur of royal blue drifting in the skies, their caps falling back down to be caught by many joyous students, they said a cheerful yet tearful goodbye to their school._

Mikan sighed, remembering the day of graduation that seemed so distant, not that she wasn't happy with the way things were now. Hotaru devoted her time inventing, making a lot of money off her line of electronics, and yet decided to open a TV station (hehe –wiggles eyebrows-) where she would explain the many uses of her inventions; every single one of them –thousands and thousands-, with surprisingly many viewers. Natsume took over a head of a cooperation standing as the CEO, he was surprisingly skillful when he actually tried to do it, that is. Ruka, using the money he inherited from his parents to open a zoo, where many exotic animals alike came together, and all shared a bond with the owner himself. Mikan, having the bright personality opened the heart of many, became a doctor, and opened a little flower shop nearby, and voluntarily brought flowers everyday to sad customers, free of cost of course. They seemed to be caught up in their own lives and would rarely ever see each other all together, besides the occasional dinners they had, just the four of them, encouraged by Ruka and Mikan mainly to catch up on each others lives.

That was about to change, unknown to Mikan, as Ruka called up Hotaru that fine morning, giving the renowned ice-princess a shock that Sunday morning, and a wake up call.

RINGRING The annoying sound of her home phone ringing tore her from her sleep, and with a mutter, most presumably a curse under her breath, she got up and dizzily floated towards the phone.

"Who the freak are you and why are you calling so early in the morning on a Sunday," Hotaru spat coldly, her voice heavy with sleepiness.

"Ms. Imai? H-hello? This is Ruka, I have a really important thing to discuss with you, and I'm really sorry if I interrupted anything," Ruka said apologetically.

"Oh Ruka!" Hotaru said with surprising enthusiasm, suddenly waking up completely and forgetting about her usual cold demeanor, "What is it that you need to talk about?" Hotaru said, catching herself this time, and returning to her cold expression.

"Imai, listen, I have the perfect idea to get Mikan and Natsume together, or at least moving on to someone they can actually have a relationship with instead of just hanging there and a string being confused." Ruka exclaimed.

"Is that so Nogi? How do you propose to do that?" Hotaru said, trying to keep her cool. -A/N; I know it's a bit OOC, but hey, its more interesting this way-

"Easy Imai, it occurred to me last night while watching your episodes of your inventions, and accidentally changing the channel to a game show. I realized you had a TV station that could instantly host a game show, a dating game show to be precise." Ruka finished.

"I'm listening Nogi, what's in this for me? And what role are you playing in this if I agree to this?" Hotaru stated bluntly, secretly hoping Ruka would play a big part in the productions, giving Hotaru more time to spend with him.

"Imai, with this you clearly see the chances of making money off the graduates of Gakuen Alice all over the world, those who has ever seen Natsume, all those people in his fan club with be running and screaming to join, you see this don't you? And if you agree, I would willingly do anything you want of me for my part, and I hope to be the host, or the co-host at least, if you may want to host it Imai-san" Ruka reasoned, trying to persuade Hotaru.

"Hmm, Nogi, you propose an interesting idea, very interesting," referring to the truckload of money this would bring in, and even how much closer she would get to Ruka.

"So you agree? You will go through with the plan?" Ruka asked excitedly.

"Sure Nogi, you have a deal, but if the plan doesn't fall through well, I will hold you personally responsible for my economic difficulties."

"Alright Imai, can I come over at around 1 to discuss the plan?"

"Nogi, be happy I am willing to waste my free day with the likes of you." Hotaru said coldly, though inside she was squealing, and overwhelmed with happiness, and mentally smacked herself for it, because her behavior reminded herself of Mikan and her howalon. –A/N; if I spelled it wrong sorry, if you don't remember that is the cotton candy-like treat that Mikan fell in love with-

"Alright Imai," he said smiling, "I'll see you in a while."

"Bye Nogi." Hotaru plainly said, and ran to her room to use yet another of her inventions to find the perfect clothes to impress Ruka when he comes over.

END OF CHAPTER 1

A/N; short chapter, a lot of Author Notes, yeah; don't complain, I will actually update tomorrow, it's a good past time in the summer here isn't it? REVIEW! Constructive criticism welcomed. I promise you now I won't bail on this story, and I'll review as much as possible, the more reviews the faster.

Till next time ; -lala


	2. The Arrangement

A/N; I promised I would update today, so I did; but if I don't get reviews much, I don't think I'll be updating this quickly every time.

THANKYOU TO MY FIRST&ONLY REVIEW-ER;

**-****dbzgtfan2004**

**&& **A lemon between Ruka&Hotaru is guaranteed to be made; but it's going to be after Natsume&Mikan get together. Sorry if this is slow with the lemons, but everything is leading up to them; so review and you and I will both be happy when I finish earlier than I intend to?

Disclaimer; Stop making me feel bad! You know I want to own the best manga every created T.T Gosh go away!

Chapter 2: **The Arrangement**

Hotaru subconsciously looked out the window every 30 seconds, right after the clock struck 1 PM. Wearing pink home slippers, a dark purple plaid skirt and a black tank top with a cartoon robot on it, she shuffled around the house, pacing, waiting for Ruka to come. When the doorbell finally rang, it was 1:21, she checked.

Opening the door, she greeted Ruka with her usual cold demeanor, and she led him inside her large home. After sitting down, they discussed plans for the game show, and decided to do a promotional advertisement a week in advance, and hold auditions for people that want to be on it in the mall close by. Hotaru was extremely happy she decided to go with this idea, even though she would never admit it to be so. They had decided to meet for the next week, every day in fact, to go pick people for the show that would definitely make Mikan and Natsume jealous beyond words, which of course was the objective of the game in the first place.

After a week of auditions and promotions; they found that they chose mainly old friends and enemies for the show that was going to take place. They even hired some stage hands, that were old friends that they either bumped into at the mall or called up and requested their assistance.

**The names for the game show were;**

Mikan Sakura Natsume Hyuuga

Sumire Shōda Tsubasa Andō

Luna Koizumi Reo Mouri

Yuri Miyazono Youichi Hijiri

**Names for the stage hands and behind productions;**

Yū Tobita

Yome Kokoro

Hotaru Imai

Ruka Nogi

A/N; Do you smell the competition already? Putting Luna there is going to make a lot of people scream; well Natsume & Mikan fans anyhow, but then again, that's the idea… hehe –evilface-

**The day before the premiere, Hotaru and Ruka went to break to Mikan and Natsume the news.**

Hotaru decidedto visit her friend, for once voluntarily at work, giving Mikan quite a surprise.

"Baka," Hotaru muttered plainly behind Mikan's figure.

"Hotaru?!" Mikan exclaimed, turning around to face her as she recognized her best friends voice mutter the familiar word.

"Yes baka, so lets go eat, I'm hungry and we need to talk about something." Hotaru stated, dragging Mikan out of her office at lunch time, and who was Mikan to complain?

ELSEWHERE;

RINGRING Natsume being his grumpy self picked up the phone in his office and muttered a "Hello," with some forced enthusiasm.

"N-natsume?" Ruka stuttered, scared of the task at hand.

"Ruka? Eh, why are you calling today?" Natsume questioned.

"Can't I call a f-friend out for lunch?" he said trying to act innocent.

"Eh, alright then, I was just hungry anyway. Where to?"

"That new restaurant downtown sounds good."

"Alright then, I'll call you when I get there, in about 10 minutes."

"See you there." Ruka said pressing end call with a sigh, step one was over, now to step two.

AT THE RESTAURANT;

"Hotaru? What was it that you wanted to talk about?" Mikan said while she was currently munching on her steak and taking a sip from her orange juice.

"Oh yes, you are going to be on my game show tomorrow, just come to my house early and I'll fix you up." Hotaru said emotionlessly as she waited for the dramatic reaction she was going to receive from her predictable friend.

"EHHHH!??!?!" she exclaimed, spitting out some of her juice as she screamed.

"Baka, don't spit on my shirt. You're paying me back for that, that will be 2,300 yen." Hotaru stated simply.

**A/N; with the help of a converter, 2,300 yen is roughly 25 USD. **

"Hotaru! W-what do you mean I'm going to be on the g-game show?" Mikan stuttered.

"Baka, you are going to be on a dating game show with that Hyuuga guy, and there's no need in objecting, because you know I have videos of you moaning his silly name in your sleep." She calmly said with the satisfaction that she had complete power over her friend.

Mikan turned a fierce shade of red, and muttered a "fine," under her breath as she continued eating away at her food, with less appetite, thinking about Natsume.

AT THE SAME TIME; IN FRONT OF THE RESTAURANT

"Hey, Natsume!" Ruka called.

"Eh, hey Ruka, lets go in."

After getting settled down at the table and placing their orders, Natsume and Ruka started glancing around dully. They were deeply surprised to find two familiar figures in the table adjacent to them.

"Ehh! Is that Mikan and Hotaru?" Ruka said in shock, secretly cursing that he had somehow ended up in the same restaurant as Hotaru and Mikan.

Natsume seemed suddenly interested in the situation and started walking towards them without warning. "Oi! Strawberry fields." Natsume stated.

"EEHHHHHH!!?!" Mikan exclaimed loudly, "Natsume?!?! What are YOU doing here?!?"

"Eating, obviously." Natsume stated, "Tchh, you haven't changed a bit strawberries."

"YOU PERVERT!" Mikan exclaimed, standing up now, drawing unnecessary attention to herself in this restaurant. And blushing as others turned their heads at her attention, sitting back down.

Natsume smirked at her response. Things never really did change, even after all those years.

Ruka trying to calm them down, stated "Hey maybe we should sit with you guys to discuss something, come on Natsume," rushing him from his seat.

"Tchh, whatever," he said, walking towards the seat next to Mikan subconsciously, thinking about the outfit Mikan was currently sporting, a simple but dazzling dress, a golden yellow color that flowed to her knees, and a white ribbon just under her chest; matching with her flowing, now waist-length honey brown hair.

Sitting down next to the fuming Mikan, still upset over the nickname that he has kept for her from all these years; and Ruka sitting next to his current partner in crime. "Stop it bakas," Hotaru said bluntly, "you are both here because you are to be on my dating game show premiering tomorrow."

"Tch, and what makes you think I will go?" Natsume said coldly, yet couldn't help himself but think about Mikan being on the show with other DATEABLE people that could take Mikan away from him.

"Oh Hyuuga, you are going to agree, unless you want Mikan here to get paired up with someone else like Ando or Reo.

"Ehh? Tsubasa-senpai is going to be on?" Mikan said with simple intentions.

Natsume took this as a threat and stated, "Fine, I'll go on."

"Good, now both of you show up at my place at 6 pm sharp, if you aren't going to be on time, be early, not late. Ru- uh Nogi and I will be there to get you all ready." Hotaru said. And the pair had to agree, with all the things held against them.

THE FOLLOWING DAY; 6 PM

"Alright, you're here, today's event is introduction and seeing who's interested, just come out when we push you out from the curtains and try to keep your claws off each other back stage." Hotaru said plainly. "Now, come with me," she said walking into one of her vast invention rooms. "This is invention 00456, it's invented to change someone's outfit, due to their appearance and situation. Yo, Hyuuga step inside."

"Whatever." And with a whirl the machine spun into action, and as it opened, it showed a Natsume in a simple white collared shirt, with a blue tie, and black slacks, and dress shoes. But damn did it show off his body through that shirt, that was almost see-through, and only had a white wife-beater to cover his body up on the inside.

"Baka, step inside," Hotaru said, waking Mikan from her daydream after staring clearly at Natsume for quite some time. She obediently walked towards the small door to the tube-like changing room, shrouded with mist, and with a whirl it closed its door and worked its magic, and Mikan came out quite dazzling too, with a lilac colored dress, with thin straps, and delicate lace that covered the rims of the end of the dress and yet another white ribbon around the ribs. With a matching lilac flower in her hair and wedges she stepped out and faced a rather red-faced Natsume his "friend" showing its excitement about her indeed. It was only Hotaru that noticed however, as Natsume was still in awe, and Mikan too dense in this topic to realize.

"Ok, you're all ready, time to meet the other contestants. Now follow me to the lower levels of my house, that's where we are going to host this show." Hotaru stated, leading them down the stairs of her large house, awaiting their doom. "Oh by the way, you are her escort for today, you may switch next time if you like, but we find it more convenient this time to pair you two up."

"EH!??! Why Hotaru, why cant you bring me out?" Mikan whined.

"Baka, I'm hosting the show with Ruka, so just go with Hyuuga there, I just hope he doesn't rape you before you guys make it out." Hotaru remarked coldly, and headed down the stairway, leaving Natsume and Mikan to follow.

"I'm not like that rapist that baka shadow freak strawberries here apparently loves." Natsume spat in pure jealousy.

"Tsubasa-senpai is nicer than you Natsume! He cares for me while I'm upset! I do love him, just like I love Hotaru, Ruka, Misuki-senpai and you-u…." Mikan stopped, realizing what she had admitted.

There was an awkward silence as they strolled down the stairs, and Natsume finally broke the silence.

"Mikan, I'm sorry I can't be like Tsubasa. I can't care for you like he can." Natsume muttered quietly, but yet audible by Mikan, shocked at his confession.

"Natsume, I.."Mikan started, but was interrupted as they got to the bottom of the stairs as they reached the multi-colored area of where the dating game show was to be held, Hotaru signaling them to hold hands.

Natsume grabbing Mikan's hand and holding it with sensible tenderness and endearment Mikan thought wasn't possible from him, and she felt her heart tremble with anticipation she assumed, _or because of Natsume holding my hand, _Mikan thought suddenly, but this thought slipped her mind as they walked into their arena of this game of love they were about to dabble in.

END CHAPTER 2.

Next chapter; hopefully up tomorrow.

More reviews, more chance I'll stay up late tomorrow to finish. Its currently 11;20 and I'm still working at this to upload this. Sorry for any grammatical errors.

Next Chapter title; **Let the Games Begin.**

REVIEW! Or I won't be this kind and update daily. -___-


	3. Let the Games Begin!

A/N; I'm sorry I made a mistake; I forgot to put in Misaki Harada and Rei Serio [Persona] by accident. To clear things up for the future events Yuri Miyazono is the one with the female pheromone alice that was in the play that took place in the anime.

Thank you to my reviewers ; aha. I almost gave up on this story but you guilted me into it, that and I got tired of getting emails saying someone put me on author alert, which was such a surprise to me by the way, so I thank you all for the support.

Chapter 3: Let the Games Begin!

Mikan and Natsume walked inside behind Hotaru to find a multicolored arena, and contestants in their outfits for the show. They were soon led back stage to where all the contestants were to stay, for Natsume and Mikan this spelled trouble. Sumire and Luna quickly spotted the pair holding hands.

Being Sumire, she runs up and confronts them. "What are you doing Sakura!? Trying to steal my future husband?!" Sumire screeched.

"EH!?! I'm not! You see..." Mikan started, trying to squirm her hand away from Natsume, to be interrupted by him.

"She stays with me. She's mine." Natsume stated, looking the other way but tightening his grip on Mikan's hand.

"Bu-but! Natsume!" Sumire fumed as Natsume dragged an innocent looking Mikan away along with him.

Luna was observing the scene, and finding out how to get back at dear Mikan because of her mother for all these years; her target, Natsume Hyuuga.

A/N; The grudge Luna holds against Mikan has to do with her mom Yuka. I'm sorry if I spoiled it for those that didn't read up to that in the manga.

As Natsume and Mikan walked elsewhere, Tsubasa came towards them, though Natsume was the only one that noticed and tried to walk away faster, in vain.

"Eh! Mikan-Chan!" Tsubasa cried.

"Tsubasa-senpai!" Mikan exclaimed.

"Hey, I see you're with black cat here." Tsubasa remarked suggestively wiggling his eyebrows.

"I am, apparently he's my escort today." Mikan fumed, missing the suggestion.

"Polka, if you don't want me to be your escort, go with shadow freak; I could care less." Natsume spat coldly, rather upset that Mikan didn't enjoy being with him much at all.

"Eh? Natsume I want you to be my escort," Mikan stated. But before anyone could answer to her response, Hotaru came around riding on her invention, the flying duck with yet another one of her inventions, invention 403 the voice magnifier oddly in a shape of a duck.

"Bakas, the show's starting. Now all the guys step outside when Nogi calls your name. Girls, wait till I tell you to go out one by one." Stated Hotaru plainly as everyone scattered off to their positions.

THE SHOW BEGINS;

Ruka; Welcome to the premiere of Bachelor meets Bachelorette! Now to introduce the gentlemen of the show!

Youichi Hijiri; the ghost alice:

"Eh, hey." –blank expression; spirits appearing and flying around-

Reo Mouri; the voice pheromone:

"Why hello everyone." –smirk-

Tsubasa Ando; shadow manipulation;

"Heys, how're you doing?" –smiles-

Rei Serio; death alice;

"hmm?"

& Natsume Hyuuga; fire alice;

" Tch. Lets get this over with." –fireball in hand-

Ruka: Now to introduce the ladies of this party, and to see who is interest in who so far, and who will end up yet, alone at the conclusion of the show. As each lady comes out, you have to say one comment about her. But before we do that lets give a warm welcome to **Yome Kokoro **better know as our friend Koko! Yes, you guessed right, **the mind-reading alice**. Lets have some fun, shall we?

[in the background the guys are shooting death glares at poor Ruka who is humbly reading the script on the screen Hotaru prepared in advanced]

First up; Luna Koizumi! [stepping out in a light blue tunic dress]

**Youchi –** Koko: Eh. Not nearly as pretty as Mikan-chan.

**Reo – **Koko: Hey, she's nice.

**Tsubasa** – Koko: Shes pretty decent.

**Rei Serio** – Koko: Hmm, not bad.

**Natsume**** - **Koko: Ugly.

Here comes Sumire Shōda! [stepping out in a light green flowing dress]

**Youchi – **Koko:Oh she's that Natsume fan girl, what a loser.

**Reo – **Koko: She's that cat girl that ruined my plans. Hmm, interesting.

**Tsubasa** – Koko: Eh, not my girl to rate, I know who shes aiming for. –looks at natsume-

**Rei Serio – **Koko: That cat girl is of no use to me. Luna was prettier.

**Natsume – **Koko: Ugly.

Ruka; That was a little harsh. –looking at the sad expression on Sumire's face- I wish better luck to the next contestant;

Misaki Harada! [Stepping out in her light pink bubble dress]

**Youchi** – Koko: She's pretty.

**Reo** – Koko: Eh, I better lay off Tsubasa here seems smittened.

**Tsubasa**** – **Koko: HEY ! I'm not smittened, I'm just…attracted.

**Rei – **Koko: Eh, not my type.

**Natsume** – Koko:

Ruka: Ok then! And here comes:

Yuri Miyazono! [Stepping out in a yellow cocktail dress]

[The girls that were standing on the side stared google-eyed at Yuri-san

–A/N: remember: female pheromone-]

Ruka: And last but certainly not least, Mikan Sakura! [Stepping out in her lilac lace dress]

**Youchi-** Koko: Mikan! I won't let oni-san take her away from me –blush-

**Reo **– Koko: Ehh this looks interesting, the nullification alice user. Isn't she the black cat's girl? –Natsume cringes at this comment-

**Tsubasa** – Koko: Eh. She's almost as pretty as Misaki… Oh shit they're going to hear this. Darn you mind-reader!!!

**Rei **– Koko: Eh. I'll leave her to Natsume.

**Natsume –** Koko: Now to make her mine, god, I forgot about that mind reader. Ugh, I feel just as stupid as that shadow fre- I mean Ando.

Ruka: So there you have it! Don't you sense the tension already? This was just a test to see who was interested, now we come to their personal profile, to see who you think is the better catch! Don't forget to text to 343894 and vote for the best match ups for a date. The couples who get the most votes will FORCEABLY be put on a date. Yes FORCEABLY. So remember to do that! We will leave on the personal profiles and a last look on all the contestants in the show.

After all the other pairs were introduced, and stepped aside, the last pair, Mikan and Natsume were introduced and concluded the show.

Ruka; Lastly Mikan Sakura escorted by Natsume Hyuuga!

-a typed profile would show up if you were watching this from the TV as Ruka reads off the information, as he did for the rest of the contestants-

Name: Mikan Sakura

Age: 22

Birthday: January 1

Height: 160 cm

Profession: High rank doctor at Alice Hospital

Name: Natsume Hyuuga

Age: 23

Birthday: November 27

Height 180 cm

Profession: CEO of Alice Corp.

Ruka: There you have it folks. Stay tune for the next installment of Bachelors meets Bachelorettes. I have two words for you: BLIND DATE. Remember to cast your vote, and let the games begin.

With that the glaring lights clicked off, and the set was full of scattering backstage workers, and exiting contestants. Luna found her way towards Mikan, held her hand, pulling her away from the crowd, Mikan being clueless as to whom this person was, and why they had led her to the opposite direction of the crowd, but soon saw it was Luna.

At a clearing, Luna uttered to Mikan, "You know, Natsume told me he hates you, hes just using you to get rid of that cat eared girl," in a cold voice. Mikan was speechless, absorbing what she had just heard, not understanding the point of that statement.

"Being as daft as you are, you probably don't get it, he doesn't like you, so stay away from him." Luna spat coldly, and turned to walk away, leaving a confused Mikan behind.

- END OF CHAPTER 3-

Next Chapter: Blind Date, Literally

A/N: Ok, not the most interesting chapter, but it had to be done. Yes introductions suck. I have to do some research on dating game shows, or I have to go watch some. AHA. Please do contribute any ideas you may have by reviewing or email, because if I end up with crazy writer's block this story will be discontinued.

**So please, do contribute some nice ideas, review, persuade me to go on with this story. **


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